


Miscalculated

by IronBitch35730 (Ayita35730)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, azula loves zuko, mai is so gonna kick zukos ass when the war ends, mai saves zuko, really - Freeform, she does, shes still terrible but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:47:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24111559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayita35730/pseuds/IronBitch35730
Summary: After Mai saves Zuko at the Boiling Rock she has a moment to muse on him, Azula and how Ozai shaped his children.
Relationships: Azula & Mai & Ty Lee, Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Mai & Ty Lee (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 176





	Miscalculated

Mai keeps her head up.

She watches as the Gondola reaches the other side of the volcano and cannot stop the overwhelming relief it brings. Even as she’s surrounded, even as Azula and Ty Lee get closer and closer her heartbeat slows and levels as the figures of Zuko and his...friends disappear. She imagines Zuko’s  _ stupid _ face when he realized she was protecting him and smiles a bit. His brows twitching as he processes the surprise, the rage and fondness the realization brings. She pictures a glimmer of hope in his brown-gold eyes and it brings with it a bittersweet sting. 

It’s been so long since there’s been hope there and she still won’t get to see it. She might not ever get to see him again. She wishes she could have gotten just another moment of real time with him, to hold him, to scream at him, a moment between them to be themselves without the weight of his betrayal (and now hers) over their heads. 

She would have left with him, doesn’t he know that?

She would have helped him get out.

She would die for him.

She’s going to. 

Mai can see the fury in Azula’s every step and while the other woman would never admit it, she can see the hurt there too. Mai’s betrayal has rattled her in a way—she always forgets that she and Ty Lee  _ know  _ her. They know the fractured pieces of a person she was as a child. The little bits of different personalities she was trying on that never quite fit. Eventually she filed those jagged pieces into something smooth and near indistinguishable from the norm, but they can still see the cracks. Even Zuko cannot seem to see them always—his envy and resentment help him forget. 

Azula comes to stand across from Mai unsettled. Ty Lee fidgets off to the side, obviously torn. Mai hopes she’ll be alright without her, that Azula won’t take Mai’s betrayal out on her. She’s better than the both of them and deserves more than this existence, walking on broken glass to please the shell of their childhood friend.

That’s all Azula is now, the walking and talking embodiment of her father’s wishes. She casts away all other bits of herself aside to fit into that mold. As she starts to talk, Mai can see the war play out on her features. She’s trying so hard to speak like Oazi, to react how he’d want her to, but her own hurt and anger bleed through. She’s upset Mai betrayed her and she’s not supposed to be.

“Why?” She demands and Mai only has honesty left for her. 

“You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you.”

Something happens to Azula then. Mai can’t place it but under the flash of anger there’s...something. Something odd.

“No, you miscalculated! You should have feared me more. Guards, leave us.” Azula hisses, readying herself to face Mai. Mai pulls out her knives but she catches something. Azula isn’t sending the guards after Zuko. There’s another Gondola, they could at least  _ try _ to stop him. So why—

“You wanted him to get away.” Mai whispers, and Azula freezes.

“That’s nonsense. Just because you will betray your country for pathetic little Zuzu doesn’t mean I am so foolish,” she hisses and Mai cocks her head to the side. Azula has that look again. Her eyes are frantic, angry, conflicted… relieved. 

“Do you really want him to die?” Mai asks and Ty Lee makes a noise almost like a whimper. She always liked Zuko, she probably never thought they’d have to hurt him. She can be so naive sometimes. Mai always knew she might be asked to hurt Zuko—with his family it was a given. She just knew what she’d choose when the time came.But Ty Lee doesn’t want to hurt anybody, not really. Azula watches her for less than a second before she answers, the words so obviously reherased Mai winces on her behalf. 

“Zuko is a traitor, his death is his due.”

Mai shakes her head and chuckles darkly. “That wasn’t an answer. That’s it, isn’t it? You do love him. You love him, but you’re too afraid of your father to protect him,”

“That’s ridiculous. Without my failure of a brother—”

“You’ll be alone. We both know your father isn’t real family,”Azula falters and Mai feels a sense of victory at the accomplishment. “You love him. You’re angry with me because I betrayed you, but you’re angry you couldn’t do the same. I chose my love over my fear and you’re too  _ weak _ to do that. You’ve let your fear of him mold you into something awful Azula. That’s why you claim to hate Zuko so much. Because he has more reasons to fear than you do and yet he doesn’t let it break him. He’s still kind, still brave, still better than you’ll ever be. Because he broke away from all this terror. He’s stronger than you and you can’t forgive him for it.” 

Azula gets a near crazed look in her eyes and Mai knows she’s struck upon something deep, a new layer to the puzzle that is Azula. To be honest, one Mai never thought she’d see. 

“No  _ you _ miscalculated! You should have feared me more. I don’t indulge fear and Zuko is nothing to me but a festering inconvenience that refuses to be discarded. But you, you are now a part of the problem and you will be eliminated for it. Goodbye Mai, I cannot say I’m not disappointed.”

She readies her stance and Mai prepares to dodge the flames. She won’t win against Azula but she won’t die without a fight either. 

Then something unexpected happens. 

Ty Lee incapacitates Azula.

“Come on we gotta go!” She yells, grabbing Mai’s arm. But she’s too stunned to move and it doesn’t matter anyway because they’re surrounded, the guards hoisting Azula to her feet. 

She speaks, tells the guards to take them away. “Let them rot,” she hisses and yet somehow Mai feels hope.

Because she’s breathing. 

Because Zuko escaped. 

Because Ty Lee is with her. 

She’s not alone in this world. After years of a family where she was nothing more than a decorative ornament, the perfect playmate for the princess and prince, she’s found loyalty. She’s found something worth caring about. 

As they’re toted away, she takes a moment to mourn for Azula. Now that the facade has begun to fracture, it’s only a matter of time before she unravels completely. Once her father is finished with her Azula will break and Mai doesn’t know if she’ll ever gather herself back again.

But Zuko escaped that fate. He will be safe. And he will win, she knows it.

And Mai finds something else: faith.

Zuko will win, and he’ll come for her. 

So Mai keeps her head up. 


End file.
